There are no boundaries to what you can create,
express, and feel here. Fill your canvas.
Course Catalog
“Chaos” by Eva Cusano ’26
mixed media on board
Visual Arts
We do our best to not only support the highly motivated and dedicated artists, but also to create opportunities for all students to find an artistic niche that suits them. At NYA it is cool to be an artist.
Check out NYA Artists on Instagram
Art is what you make it.
Artistic expression begins in the Lower School and is part of every student’s life through Middle School. The visual art component at NYA promotes visual literacy and provides opportunities for students to explore their world, while learning how to express themselves with a variety of media. Projects are planned to enhance appreciation for and to develop self-discovery. Students do interdisciplinary projects, learn lifelong lessons on perspective and expression, draw, paint, and do design work with a 3D printer. Using the elements of art and the principles of design, the emphasis is on process, not product.
“Train to the Rockies” by Hugo Daniel ’28
acrylic on canvas
Visual arts in the Upper School are purely elective. NYA’s AP Studio Art class is one of the few offered in the state of Maine. 71% of the student body participates in studio art, drawing, painting, print making, digital art, or sculpture. Many of those students have their works show in downtown Portland galleries, contributing to the city’s growing art scene. Some have been judged and awarded at the national level in competitions such as the Scholastic Art Awards. NYA’s digital art class allows students to create with technology.
Acadia Keefe ’23
Digital Art Class
NYA offers a Diploma with Distinction in Visual Arts which allows students to pursue a course of study where they will become highly proficient the visual arts and complete a finished portfolio that expresses their views of the world around them. These programmatic areas are in service of cultivating breadth and depth of aptitude in visual arts, pursuing passions in this area of study, learning how all artistic disciplines are linked, encouraging an appreciation for the history of art, and laying the foundation for visual art related college studies.
